Chamonix or Lyon?

Neither city is a swimming destination, and the difference is in the setting. Chamonix's nearest bathing is Lac de Passy down the valley, a small lake with a sandy strip that looks straight at Mont Blanc. Lyon has a supervised bathing lake in the Grand Parc de Miribel-Jonage on its own outskirts, which is easier to reach but is a city park rather than a view.

For clear Alpine water, both cities point to Lake Annecy. It is a little over an hour from Chamonix and closer to two from Lyon.

Lyon is one of the great eating cities of France, and Chamonix is a resort. In Chamonix you eat fondue, raclette and tartiflette made with Reblochon and Beaufort from the surrounding pastures, ideally on a mountain terrace facing the glaciers. Away from those terraces, menus repeat themselves and many kitchens close outside the main seasons.

Lyon has the bouchon, with quenelles, andouillette and praline tart, and generous set lunches that make serious cooking easy to afford. It also has Les Halles Paul Bocuse, Sunday markets along the Saône, and Beaujolais and northern Rhône wines on its doorstep.

Chamonix tells one story well, the birth of alpinism, through the Musée Alpin, the guides' quarter and the climbers' cemetery. That fills half a day.

Lyon needs several full days. There are the Roman theatres and Gallo-Roman museum on Fourvière, Saint-Jean cathedral and the Renaissance traboules of Vieux Lyon, the silk-weavers' workshops of Croix-Rousse, the Musée des Beaux-Arts and the Institut Lumière, where cinema began. If sightseeing matters to your trip, the city is far ahead.

Chamonix's nights are loud and sociable but short on choice. Après-ski starts at the foot of the slopes and moves to a single lane of pubs, then to two or three small clubs. The crowd is mostly young and English-speaking, and it thins out in summer and in the shoulder seasons.

Lyon offers more variety. There are wine and cocktail bars between Hôtel de Ville and the Terreaux, pubs in Vieux Lyon and barges on the Rhône that turn into clubs. It also has a serious electronic scene, with warehouse venues and the Nuits Sonores festival.

Here Chamonix is in a different league. The Mont Blanc massif rises nearly 4km above the valley floor. Cable cars reach the Aiguille du Midi at 3,842m, and the town is the starting point for the Vallée Blanche, the Tour du Mont Blanc and climbing with the oldest guiding company in the world.

Lyon's outdoors are gentler and closer to home. You can run or cycle along the Rhône quays, boat on the lake in the Parc de la Tête d'Or and walk in the Monts d'Or. For real mountains, the Vercors and Chartreuse are an hour or more away by car.

Chamonix's outings cross borders. The tunnel takes you to Courmayeur and the Roman town of Aosta in Italy, and the Mont Blanc Express climbs to Martigny in Switzerland. Annecy and Geneva are a little over an hour away. After those, mountain roads and other ski resorts make up most of what is left.

Lyon has more variety on every side. Vienne's Roman temple is twenty minutes away by train, and medieval Pérouges is under an hour. To the north lie the Beaujolais villages, Cluny and the Burgundy towns around Beaune, and Annecy and Chambéry are also within reach.

Both cities work for children, in different ways. Chamonix is an outdoor playground, with nursery ski slopes, a summer luge, treetop courses, the marmots and ibex of the Merlet park and the little red train to the Mer de Glace. However, the highest cable cars are unsuitable for small children, and rainy days are hard to fill.

Lyon keeps families busy whatever the weather. There are the free zoo and pedalos in the Parc de la Tête d'Or, dinosaur skeletons at the Musée des Confluences, Guignol puppet shows and the funiculars up Fourvière. The stepped lanes on the hills are its weak point for pushchairs.

Lyon is somewhat easier to get around. Its metro, trams, funiculars and bike-share scheme all reach the flat Presqu'île, and the Rhônexpress tram runs from the airport. The hills sometimes mean a climb or a change.

Chamonix's centre is small and walkable, and the guest card makes the valley buses and the Mont Blanc Express free. In winter, though, the ski buses are packed, and evening services are thin.

Chamonix's shops are for one purpose. The technical climbing and ski shops, some run by the same families for generations, are worth saving a big gear purchase for. Apart from those, there are cheese, génépi and rock crystals.

Lyon offers ordinary city shopping and some local character. There are chains on the rue de la République, luxury labels around Place des Jacobins and the large Part-Dieu mall. The more distinctive finds are silk from the weaving heritage, designers' workshops on Croix-Rousse and antique dealers on the rue Auguste Comte.

Lyon is clearly the cheaper stay. Hotels are reasonable for most of the year, the zoo is free, and bouchon set lunches are some of the best value in French eating. Only the trade fairs and the Fête des Lumières push rooms up.

In Chamonix, lift passes, the big cable cars, guides and paragliding flights add up quickly on top of resort-priced rooms. Free valley transport, picnics and trails that need no lift help a little, as do the quieter shoulder months.

Lyon has a real stage life. It has the glass-vaulted Opéra with its ballet, the Orchestre National at the Auditorium and the grand Théâtre des Célestins. The Maison de la Danse makes dance the city's speciality, and in summer the Nuits de Fourvière festival puts on shows in the Roman theatres.

Chamonix has no season at all. Apart from a summer jazz festival with some sets played high in the mountains, it offers church concerts and mountain film evenings.

Chamonix offers the better soak. Its large day spa, built on the Italian thermal model, has hot outdoor pools looking up at the glaciers, and the warm springs of Saint-Gervais are about 25 minutes down the valley. The town itself is busy and starts early, so for calm, stay in a hamlet further up the valley.

Lyon has no bathing tradition, only hammams, hotel spas and the open-air pool on the Rhône quays. Its relaxation comes from long lunches and slow Sundays by the Saône, and for thermal baths you take a day trip to Aix-les-Bains.